Refuse containers of the type used in households are relatively light in weight and easily can be handled by operators for emptying them into refuse collection trucks. However, containers such as those used by industries, stores and apartment houses often have capacities in the order of 1 or 2 cubic yards and are much too heavy to be lifted and turned over by an operator for dumping them. Containers of this type are open-topped boxes usually having casters so that they can be pushed into place and usually they are equipped with oppositely extending trunnions at the upper corners of their front sides. Apparatus for emptying containers of this type is shown in various patents, such as Gollnick U.S. Pat. No. 2,928,562 and McCarthy U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,216. Apparatus embodying the instant invention is designed for the purpose of emptying large containers of this general type either into a refuse truck or, for another example, into the receiving hopper of a stationary refuse compacting machine in which the refuse is densified prior to loading it into a refuse truck.
In order to empty containers of this type it is necessary that the apparatus have mechanisms which are engageable with the container trunnions after an operator rolls the container into place and that the mechanisms have elements which will engage the container to turn it over so that the refuse in the container can be emptied into the receiver of the truck or the other apparatus. In addition, an apparatus designed to handle these massive containers must be of relatively heavy construction and it should have means for preventing the container from tipping or falling over beyond its inverted position into the hopper or apparatus into which its contents are being emptied. Such an apparatus preferably should also have means for automatically "squaring-up" a container as it is moved into place in order to avoid repeated attempts by an operator to precisely position it relative to the dumping apparatus and for preventing spillage of the refuse from the containers during dumping.
It is, therefore, the principal object of the instant invention to provide an apparatus for dumping refuse from open-topped refuse containers which comprises means for grasping the trunnions of such container, for engaging the container in order to turn it over, for elevating and inverting the container in order to empty its contents into a receiving hopper or other apparatus, and which has means for preventing the container from falling over into the receiver while it is being dumped.